Having completed their summer exams, over 70 Year 11 pupils accompanied by 10 staff recently completed their Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions.
This year’s expedition was particularly memorable as it was the first residential trip to be run by the school in many months due to restrictions imposed by the pandemic. As a result, the decision was made to combine the standalone practice expedition with the later qualifying expedition to allow the pupils to gain the full award. This meant a longer, tougher expedition which saw participants navigate through the woods and marshy areas of the New Forest for two days before the long drive to undertake 3 days of trekking in the beautiful hills of the Peak District under assessed conditions. The students slept in tents throughout, with the exception of one night in Hartington Hall YHA, allowing the groups to sort their kit and get a good night’s sleep in between the two locations.
All the groups performed admirably and showed particular strength of character to persevere through torrential rain for the first 24-hours. The groups battled against hills, mosquitoes, and blisters. In total they each covered over 100km each by the end of the trip. For most, that would seem like a full week’s work but some of our pupils went straight onto other demanding activities such as the Kent Hockey finals, assessments for local netball teams and one even completed a team cross-Channel swim!
